Psychologist Licensure in Washington: Degree, Supervised Hours and the EPPP

Washington licenses two titles: psychologist and licensed psychological associate.

RCW 18.83.020 is a representation rule, not a practice definition: it is unlawful to represent yourself as either without the matching licence, and representing includes using a title or service description containing psychology, psychological, psychologist, or a term of like import; counseling or guidance stays lawful for people who do not hold themselves forth under either title (RCW 18.83.210).

The licensed psychological associate licence, rewritten by 2024 c 371, is a supervised trainee licence for doctoral students and postdocs, which is why the research file lists it among titles that are not master's-level despite the name.

Postdoctoral trainees working under supervision use titles indicating their status: psychological resident, psychological intern, or psychological supervisee.

The exemptions are conditional, not blanket: credentialed school psychologists only when practising within their employment, and government-agency psychologists only where positions require certification or civil-service qualification and only while carrying out employment functions (RCW 18.83.200).

The statute asks for a doctoral degree from a regionally accredited institution, obtained from an integrated program of graduate study in psychology, and WAC 246-924-046 defines that program: at least three academic years of full-time graduate study or the equivalent, at least 51 semester or 85 quarter credits across the rule's content areas, an original dissertation psychological in nature, and an organized practicum and internship.

A program accredited by APA, CPA or PCSAS is recognized as meeting the minimums; any other program qualifies on the curriculum test, which accepts at most two courses taken after the degree before a respecialization program is required.

The academic residency means one continuous full-time year physically present at the degree-granting institution, and a distance program instead documents at least 500 hours of in-person educational meetings (WAC 246-924-048).

The rule totals 3,300 supervised experience hours: a practicum of at least 300 hours over at least nine months, plus at least two years of supervised experience totaling 3,000 hours that includes an internship of at least 1,500 hours.

The remaining 1,500 hours may come from additional practicum hours, additional internship hours, or a postdoctoral experience, and the rule attaches no accreditation condition to that choice, so hours you earned before the degree can carry it.

Up to 1,500 postdoctoral hours are used only when 3,000 hours are short at degree conferral; that structure has been in force since the 2020 rule and was restated effective August 14, 2025.

The internship itself must be APA- or CPA-accredited, an APPIC member, or meet the alternative-internship standards, and it must fit within 12 to 24 months (nine to 24 for school psychologists).

An applicant credentialed as a substance use disorder professional for three of the previous ten years has the flexible 1,500 reduced to 1,020, for a total of 2,820 hours (WAC 246-924-043(2); RCW 18.83.220).

Licensure requires the EPPP, administered by ASPPB, with a scaled score of at least 500.

No EPPP Part 2 requirement was found in the rules read, and the question is time-limited anyway: ASPPB's integrated EPPP replaces both parts for first-time takers from fall 2027 and is the only version from April 1, 2028.

A failed EPPP can be retaken at the next administration, but a third or later attempt requires a one-month wait and a board-approved action plan (WAC 246-924-095).

The jurisprudence exam comes after the licence rather than before: it must be passed within the first CE cycle, after which it is optional, though a licensee may claim one CE hour per cycle for passing it.

An associate's supervisor must hold an active, unrestricted Washington licence, the supervision agreement goes to the department on the board's forms, and an updated agreement is due within 30 days whenever the supervisor changes (WAC 246-924-155).

The rules sort associates into three levels of practice tied to the training stage: level 1 for a practicum student, level 2 for an intern, level 3 for a postdoc, each following the corresponding experience rule, and the associate must identify their level to clients (WAC 246-924-161).

For anyone counting practicum hours, at least 75 percent of the supervision must be by a licensed psychologist, so a placement supervised mainly by other disciplines can cost hours (WAC 246-924-052(4)).

Telesupervision counts, with no hour limit, as long as the program's written policy is in place.

An associate applicant may also practise without a licence under direct supervision for 120 days after the department receives the completed application, or until the licence is issued or denied if sooner (RCW 18.83.105(2)(b); WAC 246-924-152(2)).

The practice of psychology is defined broadly: psychological, neuropsychological and psychoeducational testing; diagnosis and treatment of mental, emotional and behavioral disorders; and counseling, psychotherapeutic techniques and consultation.

Prescribing sits outside the definition entirely, so Washington psychologists have no prescriptive authority.

The exemptions are scoped, not blanket: university teaching, lecturing, consulting or research only as part of, or dependent on, a position at a college or university in Washington; business and industry only where the employer is not engaged in offering psychological services to the public, with an express bar on exempt employees engaging in the clinical practice of psychology; plus supervised students, interns and residents using training titles and social psychologists meeting the board's sociology-or-social-psychology criteria who file an education statement (RCW 18.83.200).

A licensed psychologist can add a co-occurring disorder specialist enhancement to the licence under RCW 18.205.105 and chapter 246-804 WAC (WAC 246-924-085).

The PSYPACT Commission map, as read in September 2026, lists Washington as a member in effect: WA H 1286, enacted March 4, 2022, effective June 9, 2022.

A Washington psychologist uses the compact to practise telepsychology or take temporary in-person work in other participating states; the compact is doctoral-only, so the associate licence never travels on it.

The state charges its own fee for compact participation — $30 per application and $30 per renewal under chapter 18.83A RCW (WAC 246-924-990(3)) — on top of ASPPB's E.Passport or IPC costs.

Endorsement (WAC 246-924-100, effective October 1, 2025) has four doors: (1) a substantially-equivalent state licence held the two years immediately preceding application, no interruption over 90 days, plus RCW 18.130.077(3); (2)(a) an essentially-equivalent state or country licence held two years, plus RCW 18.83.170(1)(a): a psychology-emphasis doctorate, no previously failed Washington board exam; (2)(b) where the board finds requirements not essentially equivalent, documentation of meeting Washington's credentialing requirements in the deficient areas; (3) a current National Register health service psychologist credential, an American Board of Examiners in Professional Psychology diplomate, an ASPPB CPQ, or an American Board of Professional Neuropsychology diplomate; or (4) five consecutive years of unrestricted licensure in another US or Canadian jurisdiction, requirements waivable under RCW 18.83.170(1).

The reciprocity program adds a probationary licence (one year, renewable once): a good-standing credential held now or within the past twelve months from a department-listed, substantially-equivalent-or-greater state or territory, no disciplinary record or disqualifying criminal history; extra education is the department's call, the first application shows a passed jurisprudence exam, renewal takes four ethics hours plus suicide-prevention training (WAC 246-924-493).

Licences renew every year on the licensee's birthday (WAC 246-924-990(1)), at a renewal fee of $295 plus a $16 HEAL-WA online-access fee.

Each three-year cycle takes at least 60 CE hours with floors of four hours in ethics and two in health equity, and six hours of suicide-prevention training every six years; the first training must cover assessment, treatment and management, and later trainings must be advanced or treatment-modality trainings (WAC 246-924-230, -255(1)).

The training exemptions differ in scope: a state or local government employee is exempt from the six-yearly training itself when the employer provides at least six hours of assessment, treatment and management training every six years, while a chapter 71.24 community mental health agency or substance use disorder program employee with that same employer training is exempt only from the first-training content rule, not from the six-yearly requirement (WAC 246-924-255(2), (3)).

The jurisprudence examination is folded into this cycle after initial licensure, within the first three years.

Confirm the current fee and cycle with the Department of Health before your renewal date.

Three changes define the current file.

The associate-licence statute, 2024 c 371, rebuilt RCW 18.83.105 around enrolled doctoral students and postdoctoral trainees.

The board rewrote WAC 246-924 under WSR 25-15-068, effective August 14, 2025, restating the hour, internship, supervision and CE rules, and the health-equity CE floor had arrived earlier by an amendment to WAC 246-924-230 effective January 19, 2024.

The reciprocity-program statute took effect May 11, 2023 (2023 c 425), and the endorsement and fee rules took their current form effective October 1, 2025.

A psychologist not licensed in Washington may petition the board for a temporary permit to perform practices for up to ninety days within one calendar year from the date issued, at no fee (RCW 18.83.082; WAC 246-924-480(1)).

The gate: a licence or certification in a state the board deems equivalent, or membership in a listed professional organization with a deemed-equivalent certificate (WAC 246-924-480(4)).

An applicant from a state the board finds not equivalent qualifies by showing graduation from an APA-, CPA- or PCSAS-accredited doctoral program plus an APA-, APPIC- or CPA-approved internship (WAC 246-924-480(2)).

Separately, an applicant holding an unrestricted, active licence in a state with substantially equivalent standards, not subject to licence denial or a conditional or restricted licence, with no Washington criminal record, can receive a temporary practice permit with the full scope of practice while the background check completes; it is never renewed, and it expires when the licence is granted, when a decision notice is mailed unless that notice specifically extends the permit, or 210 days after issuance (WAC 246-924-483).